The location Wang Chuan chose for the celebration dinner was a private kitchen restaurant Yan Feifan had been to once before, the one with the very charming and stylish proprietress.

After getting off work, Yan Ziruo hurried over to the restaurant.

She entered the three-story building and turned into the room on the right. Inside the brightly lit, elegant room was the largest round dining table she had ever seen.

This round dining table could easily seat twenty to thirty people.

Around the table, fourteen or fifteen people were already seated, with a dozen or so seats still empty.

Yan Ziruo spotted Vice President Liu Jin, several department directors such as Miao Quan, Qee Sheng, and Wan Yuming, her younger brother’s mentors Wang Chuan and Qin Ying, as well as Yu Suye and a few others.

She also saw several unfamiliar faces.

Yan Ziruo saw her younger brother, Yan Feifan, sitting next to Vice President Liu Jin, speaking softly with a few of the elders.

She saw Yu Suye get up and wave to her. After giving a brief nod to Wang Chuan, Qin Ying, and the others who had seen her, she hurried over to the empty seat beside Yu Suye and sat down.

“Su Ye, it’s just one successful surgery, isn’t it?”

Yan Ziruo said with some confusion, “I thought it would just be a few people having a simple meal. I didn’t expect such a grand affair!”

“Ruoruo…”

Yu Suye leaned closer to Yan Ziruo and whispered, “This surgery was no ordinary one. Feifan is the only person in the entire country who can perform it.”

“You could say it’s a major breakthrough in the field of intraspinal tumor resection. It’s incredibly significant.”

Yan Ziruo let out a soft “Oh,” and said, “No wonder Feifan has been lost in thought whenever he came home these past few days. So the surgery really was that complicated.”

She gestured with her eyes toward the dozen or so empty seats and asked, “Who are the other important people who haven’t arrived yet?”

“A few from Neurosurgery…”

Yu Suye was halfway through her sentence when a commotion and the sound of hurried footsteps were heard.

Following that, she saw Lo Jun, Ma Peilin, Zhu Haifeng, Zheng Ling, the two assistants who had been with Lo Jun in the operating room that day, and seven or eight other unfamiliar men stream into the room.

Everyone already seated rose to greet them.

Amidst the flurry of greetings and pleasantries, Yu Suye overheard that the unfamiliar men with Lo Jun included Ye Zongbo, editor-in-chief of the *Chinese Medical Journal*, and Tang Jun, editor-in-chief of the *Binhai University Medical Journal*, as well as a few of Lo Jun’s students, such as Xiao Yang.

After the introductions and pleasantries, everyone sat down, and waiters came over to pour tea and water for the new arrivals.

The slightly noisy chatter hadn’t completely died down when someone eagerly asked, “Mr. Yan, where are you planning to publish the research from this surgery?”

“Will you support our own *Bin University Newspaper*?”

The speaker, Tang Jun, then pointed to Ye Zongbo beside him. “Or this guy’s *Chinese Medical Journal*?”

Ye Zongbo slapped away Tang Jun’s pointing hand and said, a hint of displeasure in his voice, “Hey, Mr. Tang, we agreed to compete fairly. You can’t just play the ‘one of us’ card.”

He then turned to Yan Feifan with a wide smile. “Mr. Yan, while the *Chinese Medical Journal* and the *Bin University Medical Edition* are both core medical journals, when it comes to SCI impact factor rankings, we’re way up there at the top, you know. Way, way up.”

Tang Jun quickly interjected, “Mr. Yan, they’re only three or five places ahead of us. The gap is actually very small.”

He added, “Mr. Yan, I’ll make your paper the lead article, with an editor-in-chief’s commentary…”

“Hey, now, Mr. Tang…”

Ye Zongbo interrupted, “Now you’re engaging in unfair competition.”

Seeing Tang Jun was about to speak again, Liu Jin quickly mediated, “Mr. Ye, Mr. Tang, please don’t argue over this paper. Let’s hear what the person involved has to say.”

With Liu Jin’s words, Tang Jun and Ye Zongbo stopped talking. Along with many others at the table, they turned their gazes to Yan Feifan.

Hospital promotions and many honors are tied to published papers.

Many people present were at the director or associate director level, and it was safe to say they had all, to some extent, had headaches over getting papers published.

They had all experienced rejection, and more than once.

But this was the first time they had ever seen two major core journals fighting to solicit a manuscript.

However, they also understood that the value demonstrated by today’s surgery fully deserved this kind of treatment…

In the past, Yan Feifan had published several papers. He’d done so to meet the requirements for his master’s and doctoral degrees, and later, to prepare for professional promotions after starting his career.

The publication process for those papers had been quite smooth; he had never once been rejected.

But as for today’s surgery, he really hadn’t thought about the paper yet. He had been completely focused on perfecting the ethanol puncture injection protocol.

Seeing the two editors-in-chief waiting for his decision, Yan Feifan was about to speak when a thought suddenly occurred to him.

He hadn’t performed this surgery alone. He turned to Lo Jun with an inquisitive look.

Lo Jun noticed Yan Feifan looking over, felt the respect, and chuckled. “I’ve already spoken with Mr. Tang and Mr. Ye.”

“The highly anticipated puncture injection protocol for this surgery was completed independently by you.”

“As for the paper on these results, you can make the decision yourself.”

Yan Feifan gave a slight nod. He looked at Tang Jun and Ye Zongbo and said decisively, “I’ll go with the *Bin University Newspaper*. You always have to prioritize your own people.”

Tang Jun said happily, “Mr. Yan, you’re right! Our own people should support our own people! Haha…”

Ye Zongbo didn’t seem too disappointed. He said, “While it’s a bit of a shame, I’m still happy to see Mr. Yan and Mr. Lo take another huge step forward in the field of spinal canal tumor resection.”

“Mr. Yan, you looked after your own people this time. Next time you have a new breakthrough, you’ll have to look after this old friend of yours.”

Tang Jun teased him directly, “What ‘old friend’?”

“Mr. Ye, you sure know how to get chummy. Today is the first time you’ve ever met Mr. Yan.”

Ye Zongbo replied without the slightest embarrassment, “We’re strangers on the first meeting, but friends on the second. So next time we meet, we’ll naturally be old friends.”

“Isn’t that right, Mr. Yan?”

“Yes, yes…” Yan Feifan agreed.

At that moment, several waiters filed into the room and began serving the dishes.

After a dozen or so cold dishes were served and everyone had filled their glasses with drinks of their choice, Yan Feifan received a meaningful look from Liu Jin.

He beckoned, and a waiter, who had been previously instructed, brought over a freshly brewed gaiwan tea.

Yan Feifan stood up, took the gaiwan tea, left his seat, and walked over to Lo Jun in a few steps.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, Yan Feifan bowed slightly and said, “Mr. Lo, during the surgery this morning, I was impulsive and impetuous due to my youth. My actions were highly inappropriate.”

“Please forgive my recklessness and my offense, Mr. Lo!”

After saying this, Yan Feifan bowed deeply and presented the gaiwan tea in his hands to Lo Jun.

Lo Jun, who had already stood up, was just about to reach out and accept it when a man’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Mr. Yan, your actions this morning violated a major taboo in our medical community.”

“The authority of the chief surgeon must not be challenged!”

Drawn by the voice, the crowd saw that the speaker was Lo Jun’s student, Xiao Yang, who was now an associate chief physician in neurosurgery.

‘Was Lo Jun letting his student speak for him because it was inconvenient for him to say it himself?’

‘Or did Xiao Yang just want to stick up for his mentor?’

Amidst the crowd’s speculation, Xiao Yang continued, “Since this is an apology, you should show some sincerity.”

“At a dinner table, you naturally punish yourself with alcohol. Offering tea… it makes it look like you’re trying to become his disciple!”

Xiao Yang was actually right.

Yan Feifan’s act of offering tea as an apology really did have the underlying intention of becoming a disciple.

Previously, Lo Jun had clearly stated his intention to take Yan Feifan on as his Closed-door Disciple.

But after the conflict during the surgery, it was hard to be sure of Lo Jun’s intentions.

At Liu Jin’s suggestion, Yan Feifan was to offer tea as an apology, and they would see how Lo Jun would respond.

Lo Jun shot Xiao Yang a stern glance and said softly, “Xiaoyan, about the surgery this morning… at first, I did feel offended.”

“However, I quickly realized that this surgery needed you to take the lead. I may be old, but I’m self-aware enough for that.”

Amidst a chorus of light, agreeable laughter, Lo Jun continued, “My refusal to back down later was just to test whether you could stick to your opinion under pressure.”

Lo Jun said with a look of deep emotion, “‘Stubbornly sticking to one’s own opinion’ might be a pejorative term, but it’s an essential quality for becoming a renowned and great doctor.”

“Xiaoyan, I am very pleased that you passed my test.”

“Xiaoyan, I intend to take you as my Closed-door Disciple. Are you willing?”

Yan Feifan quickly replied, “Mr. Lo, I am willing…”

PS.

Just one update for this morning.

Please support the official release. Subscriptions have been a bit stagnant, and it’s making me sad…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep